No One Ever Gets the Reference
by Survey Corpses
Summary: Most every fandom has a story like this, girl from the "real" world somehow ends up in a fictional world and manages to change things up, whether they want to or not. This is my attempt at a hopefully decent and non mary-sue story of what it would be like for an average fangirl to get dumped in the SnK world. Shameless self-insert.
1. This Isn't Some Bad Fanfic!

**Disclaimer: Attack on Titan belongs to Hajime Isayama not me**

**Note: I know using the word oriental to describe people is offensive, but that is how it is written in the manga so please refrain from trying to correct me. I already know it's wrong. I'm just going by what the character said.**

* * *

"Well, if it isn't Bitchface McGee."

I glowered at my laptop screen as the Female Titan made her appearance. Having already watched the entire series of Shingeki no Kyojin, also known as Attack on Titan (or that one gay bondage anime), I held no love for the female titan this episode. At the moment, I was holed up in my room rewatching the series. It was mid-December, and I was home from university on winter break. As a vacationing college student and major nerd, I didn't really have all that much to do besides watching various anime, reading fanfiction, and browsing tumblr or pinterest.

Speaking of which, I quickly paused the video and switched tabs to see that role-play partner on the tumblr had responded to our thread. In case in you're wondering, I am one of the many Eren Jaeger (Yaeger if you're picky) RPers on tumblr. Eren has always been my favorite character, with my beloved Levi-heichou a close second. Personally, I thought Eren was amazing, and not just because of his titan-shifting ability. Although, that was awesome, too.

Finishing up my reply to my friend, who happened to rp as Levi (shameless Ereri shipping), I resumed watching the episode. Just a couple hours later, I finally finished the series. Glancing over at my alarm clock informed me that it was well past eleven and nearing midnight.

"Might as well make a quick snack before bed."

Stretching, I rose from my desk and ambled into the kitchen. The pantry was sparse as grocery day wasn't until tomorrow, but I managed to find something that didn't take too long to prepare. It probably wasn't a good idea to eat an entire bowl of ramen before bed, but I was a broke college student basically living off the stuff, so I honestly didn't care. After sating my inner Naruto, I happily readied myself for a long night of sleep.

With a startled gasp, I shot up in bed, searching for the sound that woke me. Immediately, my eyes fell on my laptop, which was playing the opening theme of SnK, Guren no Yumiya. Confused, I carefully slid out of bed and sat at my desk. I was certain that I had turned it off before going to bed. Shrugging it off, I reached toward the mouse pad, intending to shut it off for real this time. The moment my index finger touched my laptop, I was stuck. Literally, my body was frozen. I couldn't move. Is this what Hermione felt like when she got petrified in Chamber of Secrets? As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I mentally snorted. Way to sort out your priorities. Logically, the next thought to cross my mind was to freak out. Unfortunately, the more I seemed to panic, the heavier my body felt. It wasn't long until my vision started getting hazy and my hearing faded in and out. The last thing I saw was the scene where Mikasa was taken by human traffickers playing on my laptop screen.

* * *

The first thing I noticed when I came to was that I hurt, _everywhere_. My muscles ached as if I had just competed in the Olympics without ever having trained for it. The second thing that caught my attention was the fact that I was tied up. The third thing I noticed was the voices of two men.

"I'm wondering if we'll really be able to sell these two. We went through all the trouble of killing that one's parents before hauling her off. Lucky the other one was just a street rat orphan."

Frantically observing what little I could see from my facedown position on the floor, I hoped against hope that this was just some weird dream resulting from consuming ramen at 12 in the morning. '_After all,_' I thought when I spotted the recognizable figure of Mikasa Ackerman, _'people don't just randomly wake up inside one of their favorite fictional series unless it's one of those really bad Mary-Sue fanfictions_.' My aching body wouldn't quite let me believe that, however. Luckily for me, the soreness seemed to be fading. Setting aside the matter of whether I was hallucinating or not, I focused on what seemed to be going on. Perhaps it would be best to play along for now, at least until I can figure out what the hell is going on or I wake up, whichever comes first.

"Take a good look at their faces."

"Hmm? Great stuff, but they're still kids, not my thing at all."

What the hell was he talking about? I know I was a little on the short side, but my, um, assets were definitely obvious enough to indicate an estimate of my actual age, 18.

"No one's asking you about your tastes. She's an 'oriental'. There used to be different types of humans in the past. She's the last descendent of a clan that fled from that orient place into the wall."

"What about the other one?"

"I'm not sure what she is, but have you ever seen a person with that combination of features? I'm sure we could pass her off as the last of an exotic race of people. We're gonna auction them to one of those creeps at the underground mall in the capital. Given that they're the only ones of their kind, that should net us a juicy profit."

I supposed they meant my dark tanned skin and bleach blonde hair. It makes sense that they'd think I was exotic. They probably didn't have things like hair dye in this world. I slightly regretted my rebellious decision to dye my brunette hair blonde considering the situation I was in.

"Her father didn't look much like an oriental, did he? She's not pure."

"That's right! The mother was the only one really worth something! But you freaked out and killed her!"

"What was I supposed to do?! She was resisting!"

Mikasa seemed to be coming around with all the shouting. I tried to look her in the eyes, but her face was blank, and I knew she was remembering her parents' deaths. A kid's voice came from the door and I knew right away that Eren was here.

"Excuse me, uh…"

One of the men, the one that killed Mikasa's mother, quickly moved towards Eren.

"Not so fast, kiddo! How did you find out about this place?!"

"Uh, I, um …the forest. I got lost in the forest… and I spotted this cabin…"

Move over Leonardo DiCaprio, this kid deserves an Oscar. If I hadn't known who he was, I would've thought he was just some random kid who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The two goons certainly bought his act.

"Come on, boy. A kid like you shouldn't be wandering about this forest all alone. There are scary critters in there. Wolves, and all. But don't worry my friend and I will accompany you to-"

"Thank you, sir. I've caught on already. Now die, motherfucker."

There was a loud thud accompanied by dying gurgles as the kidnapper vainly attempted to stop his throat from bleeding out. Nine years old and my baby is already a swearing, murdering, adorable psycho.

"Th-this can't be real!"

Eren took off while the other guy was still shell-shocked, but the slamming door brought him to action.

"Wait! Stay where you are! Damn you! To hell with you kid!"

Eren charged back in the room with his broom-knife thing, stabbing him in the shoulder. The man fell backwards, right into mine and Mikasa's line of vision. Not quite finished, Eren jumped onto him, screaming and stabbing him again.

"YOU FUCKING ANIMAL! DIE! DON'T YOU WAKE UP AGAIN EVER! YOU HAD IT COMING SCUMBAGS! THIS IS WHAT YOU DESREVE!"

Watching that, I wasn't sure what to feel now. On the one hand, I just watched someone get brutally murdered, but on the other, who knows what would have happened if Eren hadn't come. I certainly didn't want to become the plaything of some sick nobleman, even if this was a dream.

"It's over now. You're gonna be okay."

Eren knelt beside us and began cutting our ropes.

"You must be Mikasa. I'm Eren, Doctor Jaeger's son. I think you already met my dad. And who are you?"

I blinked when I noticed his attention was on me as he freed Mikasa from her binds then moved on to mine.

"My name is Andrea."

He nodded in acknowledgement and set down his knife. As soon as my arms were free, I tackled Eren in a fierce hug because honestly, even if this was some strange hallucination thought up by my subconscious, there was no way I'd turn down an opportunity to hug my favorite character, especially when it's an adorable younger version of him.

"Thank you."

I figured he'd be less weirded out if he thought I was hugging him out of gratitude for saving me than just randomly hugging a stranger. He seemed surprised by it at first, but laughed and briefly returned the hug, making me feel incredibly giddy.

"You're welcome. My dad went to Mikasa's house for an examination and I was tagging along. That's when we found-"

"There should be three of them."

Mikasa looked at us alarmed as she interrupted Eren. I gasped remembering that there was indeed a third man. How could I have forgotten?! Eren lunged for his knife as the third man came into the room, but he wasn't fast enough. The man kicked him away then lifted him up by his neck, strangling him.

"Little bitch, did you do this? I can't believe it. YOU KILLED THEM?! THEY WERE MY FRIENDS, ASSHOLE! FUCKER! HOW COULD YOU?! YOU ARE SO DEAD!"

"Eren!"

I picked up the knife and charged at the man, not sure what I intended to do aside from helping Eren. Fat lot of help I was, the man backhanded my face and I crumpled to floor, my vision swimming from the blow. I really hope I don't get a concussion. Vaguely, I could hear Eren giving Mikasa his fight speech. The spots in my eyes cleared up and I sat up just as Mikasa ran the man through with the knife. He dropped to the ground, having been pierced through the heart. Immediately, Eren gasped for breath, clutching his throat, and I scrambled over to him and Mikasa.

"Are you two okay? Eren, let me see."

I gently pried his hands away to see the angry red handprints on his skin. I lightly prodded the marks, moving my hand away when he winced.

"Well, it's not too bad. It'll definitely be sore and you might have some minor bruises later but nothing serious."

"What about you? You got hit pretty hard."

I could tell Eren was eyeing what were most likely the beginnings of a bruise on my face. I covered my cheek with my hand.

"I'm fine. And you, Mikasa? Are you okay? You've got blood on your face."

She shook her head.

"This was from before, when they-"

She cut herself off, obviously referring to when her parents were killed. I reached over and pulled her into a tight hug. She stiffened at first, but quickly came apart in my arms, sobbing loudly into my shirt. I rubbed her back, trying to comfort when I realized I was shaking. It wasn't until I felt her tears soak through my oversized t-shirt that I felt something was wrong. I know I was a little small, but shouldn't I be a little bigger compared to Eren and Mikasa? Eren shouldn't be _taller_ than me, not at his current age- Where the hell are my boobs?! Did I get younger?! What the actual hell?! All of a sudden everything came crashing back all at once, becoming a child, waking up in strange place, being in a fictional world, and watching people get murdered. It was too much and before I knew it, I was crying too. I felt someone, Eren pull us both into an embrace, but I was too upset to care.

* * *

I didn't know how long we stayed like that, but it was already dark by the time someone found us, although Mikasa and I had stopped crying before then. We were led outside by a soldier while another investigated the bodies. Eren's dad was there, and he grabbed Eren by the shoulders, chastising him for being reckless and endangering himself. I shivered in the cold, and moved closer to Mikasa, holding her hand in mine. She glanced at me surprised, but then looked away.

"I'm cold… Now I have… nowhere… nowhere left to go."

I gave her hand a quick squeeze, realizing I didn't have any place to go either. Eren stood in front of us, wrapping his famous red scarf around Mikasa's neck. I started when I felt a warm weight on my shoulders and looked up to see Eren placing his maroon coat around me.

"Have this. Now it's yours. Should be warm enough."

Dr. Jaeger stood next to his son, leaning down to be more level with us.

"Mikasa, come live with us. You've had it hard. What you need is rest. And who might this lovely young lady be?"

Turning his attention towards me, he offered me a smile. I shakily returned it as a small panic bubbled inside me. Where was I supposed to go now? It's not like I could join the military. I looked too young to pass for a twelve-year-old. If I had to guess, then I was only nine, just the right age to be a part of the main storyline, not that it was much of a story anymore, so much as the future, my future.

"Andrea Beltran, sir."

"I'm sure your parents must be worried for you. Perhaps we could find them. It shouldn't be too hard to find them, if their features are as unique as yours."

There they go again, mentioning my looks. Are they really such a big deal around here?

"I don't have parents, sir."

Eren frowned at news, regarding me with sympathy. I felt bad for lying, but it's not like I could have told them the truth. '_Oh, I come from another world where you entire existence is a fictional story people read for entertainment.'_ Yeah, that'd go over well.

"I see. Who do you live with then? Relatives, friends of the family?"

"I don't have family, sir. I stay by myself."

Eren rushed forward and grabbed my hand that wasn't still holding Mikasa's.

"You can come, too! You and Mikasa both."

Dr. Jaeger spluttered a bit before sighing in exasperation.

"As my son said, you're more than welcome to come live with us as well, Andrea."

I gave him a watery smile and nodded, relieved that I had a place to go. Feeling mischievous, I turned to Mikasa and stole Eren's line.

"Come on, Mikasa. Let's go home. Our new home."

Her eyes welled up with tears that soon spilled over.

"Yes… let's go."


	2. Humanity Received a Grim Reminder

**Note: Writing takes a hell of a lot more time than I expected. This chapter's longer than the last, which I'm sure is going to be the average length of each chapter so don't expect updates every week. I don't have a schedule and I'm making things up as I go so it'll be slow going.**

* * *

Not a whole lot happened in that peaceful year before the wall fell. It didn't take long before I came to terms with the fact that this wasn't a dream or hallucination. Pretty hard not to after waking up to fictional characters for a couple weeks straight. Mikasa and I became a part of the Jaeger family quite easily. Mrs. Jaeger, who I referred to as _ama_, a word I used which was just a shorter form of mama (mom was reserved for my own mother), liked to dote on us, claiming that she'd always wanted daughters. Since I liked to keep my hair so long, she would often braid it for me in such a way that it would only hang down between my shoulder blades instead of to my waist.

Speaking of which, my hair seemed to have permanently become blonde. Normally, by now, my roots should have grown out to show my natural brunette hair, but for some reason it hasn't. It also didn't feel like my hair used to. Since I bleached my hair myself instead of having it done professionally at a salon, my hair wasn't as smooth as it was before, evidence of it being tampered by chemicals. Now, it felt softer, like it did before I dyed it, leading me to the conclusion that blonde is now its natural color. My appearance vaguely reminded me of Kaolla Su from Love Hina or Edward from Cowboy Bebop with blonde hair if they were drawn in SnK style. That nearly threw me off the first time I saw my very anime-like appearance. I should have expected it to be honest, considering everything else looked exactly as it appeared in the anime. Conveniently enough, I could understand whatever I heard or read. I didn't realize at first, but everyone was speaking English, which threw me off. I figured everyone would be speaking Japanese or at the very least German, but apparently not.

Like Mikasa had kept Eren's scarf, I had kept his coat. I rarely went out without it and usually, I stole Eren's other clothes to go with it, much to Eren's dismay and _ama_'s amusement. There was no way I was wearing a dress if I could help it. To solve Eren's predicament, ama found some of Eren's old clothes that he had outgrown and tailored them to fit me. Basically, my outfit looked just like his, only smaller and in different colors.

Although I was the shortest in the group, coming up just below Armin, I wasn't the youngest, my birthday being just a few days after Eren's. Of course, this led Mikasa, born a month before us, to treat us as her surrogate younger siblings, a fact that Eren hated. I didn't mind so much as I had always been the eldest sibling. I enjoyed having an older sister and being the younger one for a change. Mikasa even learned how to braid my hair the way I liked from _ama_ so she could do it sometimes. Surprisingly enough, Mikasa was just a smidge more protective of me than Eren, although she still had that unwavering loyalty and devotion to him as well. Despite not being the youngest of our friends (beating out Armin's November birthday by several months), I was often treated as the baby of the group. Eren, Mikasa, and even Armin would jump to my defense when the local bullies would give me flak for my weird features. They never let me go out on my own, Eren and Mikasa always accompanying me whenever I was sent out on errands.

I really liked my life here, even if I did get a bit homesick every once in a while. Mikasa was a very quiet person, something I didn't really mind. Eren, on the other hand, could be quite loud, not that I minded that either. I myself thought I was a decent median between the two. Eren also introduced us to Armin, who I admit I also hugged when I met. My new family and friends quickly learned that I was very touchy-feely when it came to showing affection, although contradictorily, I did not like being touched in the same manner by others, with a few exceptions. It was not uncommon to see me holding hands with or hugging Armin, Mikasa, and especially Eren. I was the closest to Eren, my personality allowing me to put up with his bullshit best. He was rather pleased when I told him I wanted to see the outside, something that most people, even adults, where too afraid to do, and dragged me off to visit Armin and read those books about the outside whenever we could.

I didn't just sit on my ass twiddling my thumbs for an entire year, however. I had never been athletic in my previous life, preferring to lounge about all day on my computer, but I wasn't about to let my bad habits get me killed. I began working out, or as much a nine-year old could. I didn't think I'd ever fall into the heavy hitters' category of titan slayers so I knew speed and flexibility were my best bet. I took to going for runs whenever we were sent out to gather firewood. I did a lot of stretching, which was how I discovered I was double-jointed. I also practiced my balance by walking on the edge of the various bridges in town, trying not to fall in the river. You can't even imagine how many near heart attacks I gave my three best friends. It got so that they always tried to take detours that wouldn't take us over a bridge. On the plus side, I finally learned how to do a proper handstand, cartwheel, and backflip. My accomplishments weren't all that much, but at least I could hold a decent sprint for more than two minutes without collapsing, which I knew I'd need to be able to do when the time came. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a way to get _ama_ away from the house, but my best chance to save her was to stay with her when Eren ran off after Dr. Jaeger left.

That's not the only thing I've been worried about lately either. Recently, I'd started having dreams about Dr. Jaeger, dreams that were frighteningly similar to the ones Eren had about how he got his titan-powers. I didn't want to think what this could possibly mean, so in the end, I just shoved it to the back of my mind.

I didn't really know what exact day Wall Maria fell, only that it was supposed to be after I turned 10, but I could tell the day had come when I woke up with a sense of foreboding. It wasn't really anything that tipped me off, just this feeling that things were going to go horribly wrong. That feeling only increased when _ama_ sent the three of us to go get firewood after breakfast. It looks like things have finally gotten started.

* * *

"Eren."

Like the anime had shown, Eren had fallen asleep while we were collecting sticks. I added a few to his pile when Mikasa wasn't looking.

"Eren. Eren!"

Eren blearily opened his eyes as Mikasa woke him.

"Wake up. We have to go home now. It's gonna get dark soon."

"Mikasa, your hair, it's gotten longer, hasn't it?"

I laughed and helped him up to his feet.

"Wow, you must've had a pretty strange dream to say something random like that."

"Yeah, it felt like a pretty long dream, but I can't seem to remember what it was about."

I reached my hand up to brush away the tears on his face.

"What's wrong, Eren? You're crying."

Immediately, Mikasa zoned in on him, protective instincts kicking in.

"I-it's nothing!"

"Maybe your dream was sad."

He looked at me confused.

"Well, you don't remember what it was about, right? Maybe it was a sad dream, and now that you've woken up, you still feel sad but can't remember why."

"That… makes sense, I guess. But not a word to anyone! They don't need to know I've been crying."

"We won't, right Mikasa?"

"Yeah."

I couldn't help thinking about that one theory floating around on tumblr about how Attack on Titan was going to end. The one that said that upon Eren's death, he'd wake up to this scene and everything that happened in between was just a dream. Seeing as I'm actually living the story, I doubt that's how it's ending, but it was still a little depressing to think about. By the time I had finished my thoughts, we had made it to the gates and the drunk guy whose name I'd forgotten was approaching us.

"What have you been crying about, Eren?"

"Hannes!"

Oh yeah, that's his name. Christ on a bike! This guy reeks. It's like he took a bath in vine.

"Did Mikasa get mad at you for some reason?"

"What would I be crying for?! You stink of booze!"

"Mr. Hannes, aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Oh, little Andrea's with you too! Nah, today we're just watching the gates! We're supposed to stay here all day, so it doesn't take long before we get hungry, as well as thirsty. Alcohol just happens to be part of the drinks sometimes, but that's nothing to write home about."

Eren was clearly not pleased with hear that. I took his hand in mine to calm him down before he blew his shit, but I knew it was useless. He was too bullheaded to ever back down.

"And when the situation calls for it, how're you supposed to fight?!"

The soldiers looked perplexed by Eren's outburst while Mikasa and I shared a long-suffering look.

"The situation? What situation?"

His response only seemed to rile up Eren even more.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this! It should be obvious! When _they_ break the wall! And enter the city! That's when!"

"If they ever break the wall then we'll deal with it, but that hasn't happened in a hundred years."

Personally, I didn't mind staying inside the walls, but the way everyone else felt about it, Eren is right, they are just a bunch of sheeple. Did they honestly think the wall was unbreachable? The Titanic was supposedly unsinkable and look at what happened there! Sooner or later, shit's gonna go down. It's just everybody else's luck that it's sooner.

"This wall is 50 meters high. I fail to see how they'll work around that."

"So you're not even ready to fight them in the first place?!"

"Nope!"

"What the hell?! Quit calling yourselves the wall garrison then! Wall-building squad would be more like it!"

"Sure, why not? You see Eren, an active army's not a good thing at all. It means things have gone south. Whereas so long as we're derided as useless freeloaders, life is peaceful for everyone."

"He has a point."

He immediately rounded on me.

"Andrea, don't tell me you're okay with this?! I thought you wanted to see the outside!"

"Of course I do! But going outside, exploring the world beyond the walls, that isn't for everyone, Eren. Not everyone has the courage or resolve or even interest in anything beyond what they know. For them, it's better to stay safe. The purpose of the garrison is to defend the wall and so long as they have nothing to defend from, it means they are safe. But for people like you and me and Armin, we need to push outside of our boundaries and leave our comfort zones. It's the only way to learn, to progress and move forward. It's people like us that venture outside the wall."

His cheeks turned red and he faced away from me.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's not like you did anything wrong. Now come on, let's leave these drunken wastes of space. We need to get home soon for dinner, remember?"

"Yeah, okay."

With one last glare at the soldiers, Eren stalked off, with Mikasa and me following behind him. The walk was a quiet one for the most part with Eren still bothered by Hannes and the other soldiers' behavior.

"Eren… Andrea… You'd better forget about the scouting legion."

"What?!"

"You could always come with us, Mikasa. That way you'd be able to look after us. That's what you're worried about right?"

Eren gave me a look as if he was personally offended.

"Andrea! I don't need to be protected!"

I squeezed his hand a little tighter.

"Don't think of it as being protected. Think of it as having someone you trust fight alongside you and watching your back. Besides, weren't you thinking of protect me as well?"

He pouted ("It's called frowning! I'm not pouting, dammit!") and looked away.

"That's different!"

"How so? And think carefully before you answer, Eren. Those are dangerous waters you're treading."

Eren blanched and tried to backtrack before he got himself in trouble.

"I-I just meant that you're kinda small so you might need a little help is all."

"Levi-heichou from the scouting legion is short for a grown man and he's humanity's strongest soldier. What's your point?"

"N-nothing. Nevermind."

"Yeah, sure. Anyway, Mikasa, what do you say? Wanna come with us? We can be together then."

She seemed to think it over for a while before giving a hesitant nod.

"Okay, but you guys are the ones telling mom."

I made face and decided to do the mature thing.

"Not it!"

"What? Oh, not fair! Why do I have to tell her?"

"Because I said 'not it'."

"That doesn't count-"

The clang of a large bell rang out through the town, signifying the return of another expedition. I cringed, both at the loud sound and what exactly it meant. Eren perked up, his eyes glinting with excitement.

"Scouting legion is back! Come on, let's go!"

Grabbing Mikasa's wrist with his free hand and tightening the grip he had on mine, he dragged us toward the main road where the scouting legion would come through. The crowd had already thickened enough to where we couldn't go up front to get a better view, so we climbed on some wooden crates. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty, so I averted my eyes. Unfortunately, I couldn't block out the sounds of that old lady crying for her son. Seriously, what were they thinking?! Giving her the _severed arm_ of her only son. Way to go guys, A+ logic.

"This is horrible."

"To think they could have lived peaceful lives inside the wall. They would have been fine. Our taxes could be better spent than on them soldiers. What a waste. As it is, our taxes essentially serve to fatten _them_ up by sending out our men as free meals."

Before Eren could smack the guy with his stick, I pulled him back, and with Mikasa's help, hauled him off. We made it a couple of streets away from home before Mikasa and I let him go. We walked the rest of the way home in silence.

* * *

"We're home!"

"Welcome back, you three."

We dumped the firewood in its place and sat down at the table.

"Is dad about to leave?"

"Yes, I'm off to town for a couple of examinations."

"Eren and Andrea said they wanted to enter the scouting legion."

My mouth dropped open. Wow, Mikasa, thanks. At least neither of us had to do it. We'd have probably put it off indefinitely.

"Mikasa! Don't make it sound like we're the only ones! You're the one who said you wanted to follow us!"

As expected, _ama_ didn't take the news so well.

"What are you three thinking?! Of all the people who got outside these walls, do you have any idea how many died?!

"Yes, I do!"

Before the argument could escalate further, Dr. Jaeger cut in.

"Eren, why do you want to go outside?"

"I wanna know what's going on out there. I'd hate to live my life inside these walls as an ignorant. And if no one want to pick up where they left off, all the people who laid down their lives so far did so in vain."

It was quiet after Eren's impromptu speech while he and his father had an intense staring contest. After, a few moments, he turned to me.

"And you, Andrea? What is your reason?"

A little startled by the sudden question, it took me a moment to find the answer.

"I don't want to be someone who just follows behind others. I want to be the one who forges the path not just someone who walks it. I want to help humanity move forward out of this stagnation we've become accustomed to."

He studied me, like he did Eren. There was a look in his eyes. I couldn't tell what it was. Whatever he was looking for, he must have found it because he gave a decisive nod before standing.

"I see. The ship will be here soon. I'll be on my way now."

"Wait, honey! Talk some sense into them!"

"Carla, when somebody's on a quest, there's no such thing as talking them down. Andrea, Eren, when I get back, there's that room in the basement which I've always kept secret. Well, I'll show it to you."

"For real?!"

…Fuck dammit. Those niggling feelings that I'd shoved inside a box in the very back of my mind came bursting out. If Dr. Jaeger was offering to show me what was in the basement, did that really mean…? No. I wasn't going to assume. If it is true, if he really made me like Eren, then I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. There's no way to find out for sure until it happened so there's no use worrying over it and what it could mean for me. Besides, why would Dr. Jaeger choose me, anyway? I mean, I understand Eren, but me? It's not like I'm his actual kid anyway.

The four of us watched him depart from the front porch. When he was out of sight, _ama_ finally spoke.

"Children."

"What?"

"Yeah, mom?"

"I insist. It's not happening. Only a fool would consider joining the scouting legion."

"A fool you say?! As far as I'm concerned, those who would buy their own safety at the cost of living cooped up like cattle are ten times sillier!"

Without another glance, Eren ran off.

"Eren! Mikasa, Andrea, he has a knack for getting into trouble, so help each other out when things get out of hand."

Mikasa nodded and followed after Eren. I stood hesitantly on the porch.

"Ama?"

"Andrea, aren't you going with them?"

"Can I stay with you today?"

"Well, that's different. You're usually joined at the hip with those two."

"I know, but Eren's going to be upset for a while."

She looked at me consideringly.

"Well, alright. You can help with some of the chores around the house."

As any sane ten-year-old, or rather nineteen-year-old, I wasn't too fond of chores, but if I could change this one critical moment, then I'd gladly do chores for the rest of my life. The next couple hours were quiet with just me and _ama_ at home. I didn't put as much effort as I usually would into working, knowing that it was pointless since the house would be crushed soon. By now, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa should be by the river, meaning that it was almost time. I had offered to sweep the floor so that _ama_ could be outside hanging the laundry. Hopefully she wouldn't be inside the house when the Colossal Titan came.

It seemed that my careful stalling ("What has gotten into you, Andrea? Is something bothering you? Are you having female problems?"), or not so careful, paid off when I heard a large boom and saw a flash of light through the windows. Dropping the broom, I ran outside where _ama_ was standing next to the clothesline, eyes wide and mouth agape. Time seemed have stood still as the whole world stopped and held its breath in a quiet, tense moment before everything resumed its normal speed when another, much larger boom was heard, followed immediately by gale force winds and debris. I tackled _ama_ to the ground, as away from the house as I could, when a large, concrete boulder crashed into our home, sending even more debris flying. Unfortunately, the wind blew so that we rolled over and _ama_ lay on top of me. I watched as the Colossal Titan disappeared in a flash of lightning. Wincing, I stood on shaky legs, helping _ama_ up with me, only to cry out in pain when I applied pressure to my left leg.

"Andrea, are you okay?!"

"I think I twisted my ankle. We need to go find Eren and Mikasa! They might be hurt!"

"Can you walk?"

"Not very well. It hurts a lot."

"Here, I help you."

Using my_ ama_ as a support, we painstakingly slowly made our way in the direction Eren and Mikasa set off. It was a gods damned miracle that the titans hadn't made it to us yet. We had barely made it a couple of blocks when a familiar voice called out for us.

"Mom! Andrea!"

They caught up to us quickly and noticed my state.

"You're hurt!"

"I'm fine! We have more important things to worry about, like getting away from them and to the gate."

"Right! We have to hurry! Eren, carry Andrea!"

We could already see the heads of various titans over the nearby buildings. Eren hauled me onto his back and ran back in the direction they came from. I buried my head into his shoulder trying to ignore the loud thuds, crashes, and screaming surrounding us. I really was useless. All this time spent preparing for today and I just become a burden. At least I managed to save Eren's mother.

With Eren carrying me, we managed to quicken our pace. I was grateful for my size, otherwise Eren wouldn't have been able to carry me all the way there. Halfway to the gate, I glimpsed a peek and was immediately assaulted with the images of titans devouring people. By the way Eren's grip on me had tensed, I knew he was seeing it too. Abruptly, I realized that I had been crying and I was shaking. _I'm scared._ How am I supposed to join the scouting legion and fight titans when I'm so _fucking terrified_?

Hannes had joined up with us and escorted us toward the gate. There were a few close calls, but we managed to make it to the last boat relatively safely. Armin and his grandfather were there and the four of us huddled together as the boat departed. Now that we were safe, _ama_ ripped a strip of cloth from her apron to bandage my swollen ankle. It thankfully wasn't broken, or even sprained, just twisted. Although, it still hurt, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I knew from previous experience it would be fully healed in about a week or two.

I watched the gate closely, waiting for the Armored Titan to crash through the wall. My waiting wasn't in vain when, just moments later, it broke through the gate with little resistance. It stood there for a moment, and then disappeared like the Colossal Titan.

"It broke through?!"

"Humanity is finished!"

"This is the end!"

"The titans will devour us all!"

I moved closer to my _ama_, who had me on her right and Mikasa on her left with Eren on my right. I pulled Eren into my arms, though he didn't seem to notice. He didn't move for a while, his empty eyes lost in thought. If his head hadn't been on my shoulder, I would have missed him speaking.

"I will wipe them all out! I'll erase them from this world until not a single one remains!"


End file.
